Pro vs hifi drivers - pros and cons?

[Defo]

What is it exacly that hifi drivers do better than pro drivers?

Except for more bass in a smaller enclosure..

[Piek]

There is no difference per se.

[tinitus]

I would say only advantage of hifi drivers is lower Fs, sometimes
If thats desired
But often pro drivers seem to have better quality at less cost

[Andre Visser]

I guess the demands on hi-fi drivers are much lower, that may allow for lighter cones and voice coils which in turn may result in more accurate and detailed sound.

[doug20]

Originally posted by Andre Visser
I guess the demands on hi-fi drivers are much lower, that may allow for lighter cones and voice coils which in turn may result in more accurate and detailed sound.

Define accurate and detailed? In terms of measurements because those are non-DIY terms and I would like to have something scientific to figure out.

Please explain how lower mass/smaller cones and voice coils correlates to a lower distortion and better Polar response curves.

[Andre Visser]

Doug20, if you want to get scientific, you are talking to the wrong guy.

By accurate and detailed, I'm refering to the ability of a driver to reproduce the sound of an instrument to sound as close as possible to the real instrument.

To my logic, basically a lighter cone and voicecoil should be able to follow the audio signal, especially the transients, more accurately. (Up to a point of course.)

[Theo404]

Originally posted by Andre Visser
I guess the demands on hi-fi drivers are much lower, that may allow for lighter cones and voice coils which in turn may result in more accurate and detailed sound.

Pro drivers are the usually ones with lighter cones (and higher efficiency)... which from a 'non scientific' point of view could result in 'more accurate and detailed' sound...

[Andre Visser]

Interesting Theo404, I don't have much experience with pro drivers, the few I've heard did not impress me though.

Would there be some that are comparable with something like the Seas Excel drivers?

[454Casull]

Different markets, different goals. Not say to that pro drivers can't be used for hi-fi (though the converse is rarely true).

[ChrisA]

Originally posted by Defo
What is it exacly that hifi drivers do better than pro drivers?

Except for more bass in a smaller enclosure..

The real difference is that a pro audio tech setting up for a live show is working in a larger venue and can use more speakers. For example a typical band would have at least the bass player and guitar player using their own customized speakers. then the PA would only have to carry vocals. It can be more complex than that but you get the point -- the home stereo user is only going to have space for a pair of speakers that must reproduce the full range of sounds and musical genre but a pro setup uses different cabinets and speakers for each of the sounds It's kind of like taking "bi-amp" to the next level

The other thing you notice is that with stereo the goal is for the speakers and amp to NOT add "color" to the sound. Stereo speakers need to be transparent. Not so with many kinds of pro-audio. Vocalists want their voice to have a certain "sound" and will select and mic, PA and other equipment to shape the sound the way they want it. Guitars take this idea 10 times farther and actually think about how a speaker sounds when grossly overdriven to where the cone distorts. Not only that but every guitarist knows his low E string can't make a sound below 120Hz so he buys 12" speakers that can't go that low, so as not to reproduce 60Hz hum OK get the idea. "soundstage" is a non-issue with most pro audio. Almost all the sound is mono. If they want the piano to sound like it is left of center they place the keyboard speaker left of center. or in a larger setup they pan it in the mixer. When you have a mic on every instrument and a live mixer you can make almost any speaker sound any way you like, you can EQ and pan each instrument. The end result is that a live concert sounds better then what you get with any hifi but they do it with "mid-fi" speakers.

-- Pro speakers are very specialized to an exact purpose. while stereo tries to be very general purpose.

OK there are exceptions pro audio also include "studio monitors" use by engineers in the studio to mix recordings. These are very close to stereo speakers. Some audiophiles might even like them but to most people they sound "un interesting" and "to flat". These have a sound like in good headphones

In short proaudio is used to create or design a sound while stereo hifi is used to reproduce that sound.